c



   


by
Marshall Soules, Ph.D.
Coordinator Media Studies, Malaspina University-College
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
soules@mala.bc.ca

c

 
 

Hybrid web-based courses, as used in this context, combine technologies of distance

delivery with face-to-face interaction. This combination of modes poses special challenges
for instructors who hope to foster collaborative learning environments based on
(inter)dependencies [Bourdeau & Wasson, 1998]. This discussion is based on the delivery of
a number of online courses since 1996, mainly in the fields of Media Studies and Computer-
Mediated Communication (English). (Websites for these courses can be viewed at
http://mala.bc.ca/~soules/.)

T he theoretical contexts for this discussion have been explored in previous papers, also
available online: From Video-Conferencing to the Cybercafé: Membership, Performance and
Online Learning was delivered at the Ed-Media / Ed-Telecom Conference in Freiburg,
Germany in June 1998; and Protocols of Improvisation and Online Learning was delivered at
the Leading Edge Training and Technology (LETT) Conference in Victoria, B.C. in 1997.

T hese earlier papers explore how online learning takes place in a distinct performance
medium--certainly distinct from traditional classroom learning--and how it is important for
instructors to reflect on the new expectations, demands, and social dynamics resulting from
the new medium. Research on video-conferenced courses we delivered in 1996 and
summarized in v
  

     (Soules 1996), reveals that
"student satisfaction and success are highly dependent on [a] sense of membership, or
engagement by the learner in the educational process. Our research found, for example, that
unlike the membership construct, the technology itself does not lead to high satisfaction rates:
once the purpose of establishing clear and reliable communication has been met, further
efforts to develop more sophisticated systems are not likely to result in more student
satisfaction. Similarly, once basic student support services have been provided, more
elaborate administrative functions do not significantly increase student satisfaction or
success" [Dolan 1996; Soules 1998].

W hat we soon discovered in our attempts to create a feeling of membership, or conditions

suitable to collaborative interdependencies, was the need to supplement classroom lectures
and discussions with web-based learning resources. Students at the remote video-
conferencing site felt they were missing something that those in the host classroom were
experiencing, and asked that lecture notes and resources be available to them through other
means. For this video-conferenced course, then, we evolved a hybrid mode which combined
synchronous delivery technologies with supplementary, and sometimes redundant, web-based
technologies to foster greater course participation and a feeling of involvement for an
"ensemble" of learners.

Since 1996, I have delivered a number of courses which combine elements of face-to-face
and online, web-based delivery techniques. In some cases, all course participants were
expected to attend classroom discussions, and then accomplish certain online learning tasks
in lab sessions. In other course configurations, there have been two sections of the same
course: one section met in the classroom, the other was solely for online students studying
from a distance. All course materials were provided on websites, and assignments for both
sections were submitted electronically. In still another version of the hybrid online course, I
accepted students who wanted to take completely online a course which had been scheduled
as a traditional classroom session. Finally, I have delivered courses completely online, with
no scheduled classroom meetings. In all of these instructional scenarios, the hybrid nature of
delivery posed specific problems, and revealed important insights into the dynamics of online
learning.

   

As one might expect, those students at a distance from the face-to-face classroom often
express the suspicion that they are missing something. Not only are they missing what they
might learn from any material presented in class that is not included in the online resource
materials, they are also missing the learning that comes from participation in discussion and
interaction. Additionally, some people feel that it is not as easy to ask questions online. There
is validity to these concerns in my experience: students do seem to benefit from classroom
discussions, from the clarification of difficult material, and from interaction with an instructor
about assignments, and other matters related to the course. The online students do not
participate in the process that a group goes through in the construction of a commonly-held
understanding of material--not that everyone has to have the same understanding, only that
the group has collaborated on an exploration of the material from which they take their own
conclusions. This collaboration defines, in effect, the condition of interdependency.

T hese impressions that something is missing in the educational experience is most keenly
felt by students who take a course completely online and know that there is a group of
students who meet regularly in the classroom. If all the students are online, the feeling that
something is missing is less common.

  



S elf-motivated online students are able to compensate for their distance from the classroom
by making use of email and newsgroups to communicate with both instructor and other
course participants. However, for students who are less sure of themselves or their abilities, I
am discovering that there are a variety of strategies that can be used to foster membership in
the course and its activities. (An earlier paper, From Video-Conferencing to the Cybercafé
discusses how "protocols of improvisation" can guide and stimulate online learners, in effect
giving them an individual voice in a collaborative activity.)

1.Y One obvious strategy for promoting a learning synergy in hybrid courses is to ensure that
the online learning resources available from the website are up-to-date and as engaging as
possible. All course participants are thus assured that they have, at least, the same
foundation of information to work from.
2.Y Similarly, it is important that instructions for assignments are clear, and do not require
further in-class explanations to give fuller direction. For most of my online assignments, I
specify the form and goals of the assignment in detail, give general parameters for the
content, and allow course participants considerable latitude in their choice of approach to
the content. (Hara and Kling report that students' distress with one web-based course was
largely related to the ambiguity of the instructor's guidelines, descriptions, and
expectations for assignments.)
3.Y I grade the assignments of online students first, and respond to all email queries as
quickly as possible to demonstrate that someone is responsive to their needs.
4.Y After the earlier video-conferencing experience, I have used mainly asynchronous
technologies for online courses--email and distribution lists, newsgroups, and websites.
My use of newsgroups has evolved considerably, and become more structured. Where
previously I asked students to participate in a newsgroup discussion over a period of time
and graded them on their level of participation, now I assign short weekly assignments
which are posted to the course newsgroup. Participants are thus encouraged to access the
newsgroup regularly throughout the course, they can see one another's work, and they can
respond to the work of others whenever they are moved to do so. These short assignments
reflect on the course material, provide writing practice, and generate the kind of focused
discussion that many of us wish would occur in newsgroups that we have participated in.
These weekly assignments allow me to monitor who is actively participating in the
learning of the course. Collectively, all course participants (including myself) are building
a tangible dialogue about the course content.
5.Y Stephen Ehrmann, the Director of Flashlight Project for the American Association of
Higher Education, suggests that effective learning is fostered when instructors hear and
understand what students already believe about a certain subject; when their "preexisting
theories" remain "invisible" to the instructor, these notions are often left untouched by
instruction (1997). The implication of this seems far-reaching and recommends that
instructors make every attempt to allow students to express their own understanding of a
subject as a basis for further learning. Early assignments in a course might ask students to
describe their views on a topic, and subsequent assignments can build on or respond to
those beliefs. In online courses, newsgroup postings can explore these beliefs, and the
resulting archive of responses becomes a profile of the current levels of understanding.
Most importantly in the case of newsgroups, everyone in the learning cohort, not just the
instructor, has access to the collective responses. Students are given more opportunity to
learn from one another, and the instructor's role may shift towards facilitation and
collaboration, and away from instruction.
6.Y Ehrmann also recommends the use of "worldware"--software which is suitable for
learning, but which was not particularly designed for that purpose. Worldware includes
word processors, computer-aided design programs, email, the internet, and graphics
programs. Not only are worldware programs more widely available, "They are in
instructional demand because students know they need to learn to use them and to think
 with them. Faculty already are familiar with them from their own work. Vendors have a
large enough market to earn the money for continual upgrades and relatively good
product support. New versions of worldware are usually compatible with old files. Thus
faculty can gradually update and transform their courses, year after year, without last
year's assignment becoming obsolete" (1997). Ehrmann further elaborates by suggesting
that "to make visible improvements in learning outcomes using technology, use that
technology to enable large scale changes in the methods and resources of learning. That
usually requires hardware and software that faculty and students use repeatedly, with
increasing sophistication and power." In my own hybrid courses, I require the following
applications: email, newsreader, internet browser, text editor, word processor for
attachments, and a graphics program. I am most enthusiastic about the internet as a
publishing medium for student work, and thus concentrate on those applications which
support students to display their writing, images, and sounds online.
7.Y Since most of the courses I deliver online emphasize writing skills, I ask participants to
collaborate on the production of an electronic journal which includes the best writing
from the course. Examples of these student-produced journals can be seen at the
following URLs:

ùY Abstrkt IDs: English 290 (Computer-Mediated Communications), Spring 2000.

ùY zine2000: Media Studies 112 (Mass media and popular Culture II), Spring 2000.
ùY Chaoscopy: English 290, Spring 1999.
ùY hypeRculture: Media Studies 112, Spring 1999.
ùY Vancouver Island 2009: Media Studies 113 (Emerging Digital Technologies), Spring
1999.
ùY mTheory Vol. 2: Media Studies 212 (Canadian Media Theorists), Fall 1998.
ùY chants/encounters: English 290, Spring 1998.
ùY Spectra: Media Studies 112, Spring 1998.
ùY WestCoast Cybercave: Media Studies 113, Fall 1997.
ùY mTheory: Media Studies 212 , Spring 1997.
ùY Fingerprints: English 290, Spring 1997.

The production of an electronic journal promotes membership in the course through the
collaborative activities involved, and it provides tangible evidence that all course participants
can contribute equally to the learning experience. It is not altogether surprising that those
who volunteer for the production and design of these journals are often online students who
want to participate more fully. Finally, it is my subjective impression that student writing is
more interesting and thoughtfully presented when the audience is broadened to include peers
and, potentially, any one using the internet.


   

Strategies for creating membership in hybrid online courses should acknowledge that we are
operating in a unique performance medium with its own protocols for effective interaction.
The relative abstraction of much online interaction--disembodied as it were--challenges
expectations about what is being accomplished in a course, who is being heard, and what is
visible. The use of structured newsgroup discussions related to course material, and the
production of electronic journals of participants' writing offer tangible evidence of interaction
and collaboration. Participants are able to build dynamic documents testifying to their
participation, and thus their rightful membership in the course. They are able to make
themselves visible, or heard, both to the instructor and to the other players who constitute the
ensemble of the hybrid online course.

Ë    
Bourdeau, J. & Wasson, B. (1998)      
    
v  v   . Charlottesburg, VA: AACE.

Dolan, N. (1996) s          Victoria, BC: NJ Dolan Consulting.

Ehrmann, S. (1997).   ! "    


    # Annenberg/CPB: Learner.Org.
www.learner.org/edtech/rscheval/rightquestion.htm. 2 February 2000.

Hara, N. & Kling, R. (2000).   $  %%

    
  Center for Social Informatics Working Paper. www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/wp00-
01.htm. 1 March 2000.

Soules, M. (1998). &    
'" 
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  (   v  v   .
Charlottesburg, VA: AACE.

Soules, M. (1997). R    LETT '97

Conference Proceedings, 1997, Leading Edge Training and Technology, Victoria, BC.

Soules, M. (1996).  %    Nanaimo: Malaspina U-

C.